Genesis 19:24–29, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Genesis 19:24–29
Sodom Is Overthrown and God Remembers Abraham
Overthrow after refuge, and Abraham watching
After Lot reaches Zoar, the LORD rains sulfur and fire and overthrows the cities, the plain, the inhabitants, and the ground's growth. Lot's wife looks back and becomes a pillar of salt. The narrator does not tell her motive or the physical process.
Abraham returns to the place where he had stood before the LORD and sees smoke like a furnace. The narrator then says Lot was sent out because God remembered Abraham. Judgment, mercy, and relationship stand together. The scene does not authorize human collective violence.
How this should shape us
Take grave harm seriously, distinguish responsible persons from those nearby, and refuse collective punishment. After evacuation, make room for grief rather than using Lot's wife to shame survivors for looking at what was lost.
Teach it back
Explain how Genesis 19:24–29 completes the Sodom narrative. Include the timing after Lot reaches Zoar, the scope and ethical weight of the overthrow, what the text does and does not say about Lot's wife, why Abraham returns to the earlier place, what divine remembrance means, and two interpretations or applications the passage does not permit.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Best judgment:
How certain? probableBest judgment:
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How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Displayed wording, overthrow, Lot's wife, Abraham's view, divine remembrance, and canonical reception.
Genesis 19:24–29 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 8:1; 18:16–33; 19:1–23, 30–38; Deuteronomy 29:23; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Luke 17:28–32; 2 Peter 2:6–9
Supports: Scene shift, sulfur, overthrow, the wife's look, pillar of salt, Abraham's view, furnace smoke, remembrance, and rescue agency.
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 19:24–29; syntax and lemmas for gofrit, hafakh, nabat, netsiv, melach, shaqaf, qitor, kivshan, zakhar, shalach, and hafekhah
Supports: Disjunctive scene shift, burning sulfur, repeated divine name, physical-mechanism restraint, wife and salt wording, furnace image, and remembrance idiom.
NET Bible, Genesis 19:24–29 and translator notes attached to the unit
Supports: Final-form placement, Abraham's intercession viewpoint, rescue, overthrow, remembrance, and canonical storyline.
Genesis commentary, discussion of Genesis 18:16–19:29
Supports: Critical and compositional framing of the Abraham and Lot cycle; no uninspected page-specific conclusion treated as settled.
Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac study guide and course context for the Abraham cycle
Supports: Literary placement and modern commentary navigation only.
Genesis, official Cambridge contents and introduction; commentary locator for Genesis 18:16–19:38
Supports: Divine and messenger agency, movement from warning to rescue, and the return to the LORD's judgment.
Old Testament Essays 36.3, pp. 709–735, narrative analysis of the visitor identity movement across Genesis 18–19
Supports: Sodom context, household loss, outsider vulnerability, and restraint against reducing the narrative to one offense.
In die Skriflig 53.1, discussion of Lot, Sodom, home, hospitality, and Genesis 19's movement
Supports: Unit structure, outcry and justice setting, rescue, Abraham connection, social vulnerability, judgment, and ethical complexity.
Old Testament Essays 34.1, pp. 68–88, complete reading of Genesis 19:1–29, including warning, expulsion, judgment, and verse 29 remembrance
Supports: Reception-history and victim-safety guardrails; no unseen argument treated as inspected.
Interpretation 71.3, pp. 274–283; accessible abstract and official publication metadata
Supports: Queer reception counterpoint and protection against weaponizing Sodom traditions toward modern groups.
Torah Queeries, chapter 4, pp. 29–33, complete accessible chapter
Supports: Documented breadth of Sodom debates, Lot's wife reception, justice, rescue, and archaeological restraint; no unseen chapter claim treated as verified.
Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah, SBL Press official description and table of contents
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Displayed wording, overthrow, Lot's wife, Abraham's view, divine remembrance, and canonical reception.
Exact location: Genesis 19:24–29 in the pinned eng-kjv2006 source; compared with Genesis 8:1; 18:16–33; 19:1–23, 30–38; Deuteronomy 29:23; Ezekiel 16:49–50; Luke 17:28–32; 2 Peter 2:6–9
Open source ↗hebrew text morphology and lemma data
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026
Supports: Scene shift, sulfur, overthrow, the wife's look, pillar of salt, Abraham's view, furnace smoke, remembrance, and rescue agency.
Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 19:24–29; syntax and lemmas for gofrit, hafakh, nabat, netsiv, melach, shaqaf, qitor, kivshan, zakhar, shalach, and hafekhah
Open source ↗Translation and textual notes
NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026
Supports: Disjunctive scene shift, burning sulfur, repeated divine name, physical-mechanism restraint, wife and salt wording, furnace image, and remembrance idiom.
Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 19:24–29 and translator notes attached to the unit
Open NET Genesis 19 ↗modern open whole book commentary
Genesis
T. Desmond Alexander
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: Final-form placement, Abraham's intercession viewpoint, rescue, overthrow, remembrance, and canonical storyline.
Exact location: Genesis commentary, discussion of Genesis 18:16–19:29
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac — Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026
Supports: Critical and compositional framing of the Abraham and Lot cycle; no uninspected page-specific conclusion treated as settled.
Exact location: Genesis 16 and 22: Abraham and Isaac study guide and course context for the Abraham cycle
Open source ↗modern scholarly commentary publisher material
Genesis
Bill T. Arnold
Cambridge University Press, 2009
Supports: Literary placement and modern commentary navigation only.
Exact location: Genesis, official Cambridge contents and introduction; commentary locator for Genesis 18:16–19:38
Open source ↗peer reviewed open access narrative study
The Narrative Significance of the Role of Abraham in the Identity of the Visitors in Genesis 18–19
Michael Ndele
Old Testament Essays 36.3, 2024
Supports: Divine and messenger agency, movement from warning to rescue, and the return to the LORD's judgment.
Exact location: Old Testament Essays 36.3, pp. 709–735, narrative analysis of the visitor identity movement across Genesis 18–19
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist narrative and ethical study
A Home for All: The Story of the Inversion of Hospitality in Genesis 19
Friday S. Kassa
In die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi 53(1), article a2493, 2019
Supports: Sodom context, household loss, outsider vulnerability, and restraint against reducing the narrative to one offense.
Exact location: In die Skriflig 53.1, discussion of Lot, Sodom, home, hospitality, and Genesis 19's movement
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist narrative and canonical study
Homosexuality and Liminality in Sodom: The Quests for Home, Fun and Justice (Gen 19:1–29)
Cephas T. A. Tushima
Old Testament Essays 34(1), pages 68–88, 2021
Supports: Unit structure, outcry and justice setting, rescue, Abraham connection, social vulnerability, judgment, and ethical complexity.
Exact location: Old Testament Essays 34.1, pp. 68–88, complete reading of Genesis 19:1–29, including warning, expulsion, judgment, and verse 29 remembrance
Open source ↗peer reviewed specialist reception and sexual violence study
Reading Sodom through Sexual Violence Against Women
Sonia E. Waters
Interpretation 71(3), pages 274–283, 2017
Supports: Reception-history and victim-safety guardrails; no unseen argument treated as inspected.
Exact location: Interpretation 71.3, pp. 274–283; accessible abstract and official publication metadata
Open source ↗scholarly Jewish queer reception reading
Looking Back to Look Forward: Parashat Vayera (Genesis 18:1–22:24)
Gwynn Kessler
New York University Press, in Torah Queeries, pages 29–33, 2009
Supports: Queer reception counterpoint and protection against weaponizing Sodom traditions toward modern groups.
Exact location: Torah Queeries, chapter 4, pp. 29–33, complete accessible chapter
Open source ↗peer reviewed multi author specialist volume
Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah: Essays in Memory of Ron Pirson
Diana Lipton, editor
Society of Biblical Literature, Ancient Israel and Its Literature 11, 2012
Supports: Documented breadth of Sodom debates, Lot's wife reception, justice, rescue, and archaeological restraint; no unseen chapter claim treated as verified.
Exact location: Universalism and Particularism at Sodom and Gomorrah, SBL Press official description and table of contents
Open source ↗